In Kira's Shadow
by ScientificallyRetard
Summary: Pandora is a popular anti-Kira activist on a forum, and attracts the attention of a certain great detective and one of his successors. Death Note written MY way, ending is changed. Male OC PandoraxMello in later chapters. Violence, gore and most likely some lemons later, rating may change. Partially Live-Action inspired, joint anime and manga content. Safe for those nervous of yaoi
1. Chapter 1

**This is a fanfiction with an alternate ending to the anime because I, personally, just didn't like how it finished.**

**In this, (I won't mention how the original ended in case of spoilers) _Mello is still in his long-running competition with Near to bring down Kira, but when that actually happens... Have they captured the right man, or is there another Kira still at large? L is still trying to bring Light to justice, but is Light still the problem?_**

_**Pandora is a username on a popular Kira-supporting forum, and the alias of a growing opponent. The more Pandora posts on his account, the more followers he gains.**_

_**In his own opinion, Kira is an incompetent killer and he believes he could be so much more than a murderer, and wants to be a god of a newer, even more peaceful world...**_

_**Until stakes run high and even the most peaceful of protesters realise that this battle is never won until the best man snaps.**_

**I do not own Death Note or the characters (aside from protesters, pedestrians and Pandora himself) and never will.**

**Also, flashbacks and dreams of character childhoods may be included to run through a character development, even with the official characters.**

**Enjoy.**

_It was dark outside the fogged windows, although it was still early in the day, and bare skeletal tree limbs reached their brittle claws out to scrape the window. The moon was shielded by clouds, stars were dimmed and L couldn't see the street lights as they shone in the distance like he usually could._

_He pressed his hand flat against the cold glass and stared out into the silently dancing snow, trying to pinpoint the exact location of the distant street lights that always seemed to make him feel at peace. Seeing nothing, he allowed his arm to drop carelessly to his side. He felt alone, like he never really belonged here. He was definitely above the other children in terms of intelligence, skill and deductive ability; he was also above average at tennis, but the one thing he could never have was genuine happiness. Not since his parents..._

_His parents._

_L sucked in a breath and bit his lip to avoid tears passing his emotional barrier. He couldn't remember. He felt like he knew everything, but he would never know what he felt was most important to him. He couldn't remember the most important part of his life up until now, and that destroyed him inside. He closed his fingers around the silver 'L' necklace he always wore beneath his shirt and looked to the clouded sky, willing his parents to show him they were there._

_"Ridiculous..." He whispered to himself. "I'm being ridiculous. They're gone." He looked down slowly, shifting onto his knees by the window. "And they won't be coming back..." He leaned against the wall and hugged his knees to his chest, closing his eyes and trying to think of his mother's arms around him, or his father's hand on his shoulder._

_Nothing._

_He was truly... Alone._

Another day slowly drew in beneath the sunrise, another day with a murderous shadow looming over a city of innocents. L lay on his own bed in headquarters, watching the light slowly climb up from the horizon and stretch over the tall buildings outside of his window. He had been thinking about this case, catching Kira, but he just didn't have enough solid evidence to accuse Light Yagami just yet. Tired of thinking; he had retired to his room in the early hours to rest his legs and weary eyes, but he had only managed a few hours of sleep; but even then, he'd had that same dream. The dream of when he was first brought to Wammy's House, when he'd sit by the window and wait for a sign.

"Ridiculous..." He murmured to himself, turning onto his side. "I was being ridiculous."

"Ryuzaki!" An overly enthusiastic voice exclaimed on the corridor, the sound carrying excited footsteps that were headed to his door.

_Oh wonderful._ He thought, sitting up and waiting for the disturbance to reach him.

"Ryuzaki," The voice hollered again. "I have a lead!" It cried, beginning to knock furiously.

Rising slowly, L shuffled over to the door and allowed it to creak open, much to the annoyance of the desperately pacing detective on the other side.

"Yes, Matsuda?"

"I have a lead!" He yelled breathlessly, thrusting an envelope into his stomach.

Cautiously, L took the envelope between his thumbs and forefingers, slowly slipping the paper out to read it.

"Let's see..." He murmured, beginning to read the first few lines. "Kira's taken another break?"

"Yeah, but keep reading!"

He skimmed the page, not bothering to take the rest in.

"Why are you showing me this, Matsuda?" He asked, head snapping up to look him in the eye.

"W-Well, I just thought... You know, maybe they could be linked! I thought we could, y'know... Carry out a surveillance investigation on him..."

"Interesting." He nodded, handing the letter back. "I shall bear that in mind, thank you, Matsuda." L made to close the door, but he was resisting.

"Wait, you didn't read it!"

"I can assure you that I did, thank you again." He sighed.

"Just read it carefully!" He insisted, holding it out once more.

Giving in, he took the letter from him and read the lines over again slowly.

"Yes, you have a potential suspect you would like to investigate with hidden cameras and microphones because his schedule fits the current pattern of Kira killings." He handed it back to him once more. "That much I got from skimming the first time."

"Oh, well..." He choked on his words.

"Goodnight, Matsuda." He nodded, once again going to close the door.

"But, Ryuzak-"

The door shut finally, and he was alone at last. Considering the evidence that had just been placed in front of his eyes a moment earlier, he lay back down on the bed and thought over his next move.

_It's definitely enough to initiate a full-length investigation,_ He concluded before he began to think about method and consequence. _We have his schedule, and it matches the murders... It shouldn't be too difficult to conclude that this man is in fact working as Kira, and if not the original then a possible suspect for the second...? No, he seems to have careful planning in his stride, too careful for the second Kira... Maybe a third? Possibly_. He shifted into his usual crouched position on the bed to increase deductive ability. _It could be essential to our investigation to set up some form of surveillance system in the places that he frequents and, of course, his own home... Yes, I shall have Watari arrange that once everybody is awake._ He lay down himself, closing his eyes and drifting off slowly to the sound of the rain outside.

_L opened his eyes finally, unaware of how much time had passed. Sunlight was just emerging and illuminating the room he was sat in._

_It was plain, with plain faded walls and a slightly worn carpet. A plain wooden bed was pushed against the far wall, and there was a wardrobe against the wall opposite. Not much else adorned the small room, aside from a chest of drawers and mirror above it._

_Dragging himself up from his seated position, he turned to glance out the window and, seeing nothing but snowy fields, he realised where he was. He'd been taken from his home by a man with a hat and greying hair. Away from his parents. His parents..._

_His memory was hazy, but he could still hear the scream and feel the warm blood on his hands. In his hair. On his shirt. He could still hear his father's cries, his mother's shaky last breaths. He felt the trembling against his back as his mother held him close, and then-_

_He shook the thoughts away, still gripping his 'L' necklace._

_"They were killed..." He whispered into the quiet room, trying to shake the feeling that this was all just a dream. "They're... They're gone..." He whimpered._

_Tears strained against the barrier, and he was still fighting back. "No..." He mumbled. "I won't let him get away with this. I promise." His hand clasped the necklace tighter, so tight his knuckles whitened. "I promise, **nobody** who takes someone away from **anyone** will ever go free again..." He wouldn't let anybody else feel the same pain that was tearing him in half._

_Forcing the tears away, L looked down and took a step toward the door. He would never break that promise, he would never be broken._

**_He would be L, the world's greatest detective._**

**_He wouldn't let anyone else lose someone and feel that pain._**

**_He wouldn't let anyone else feel alone._**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ryuzaki," Light snatched L from his thoughts. "The suspect is leaving his house."

"Yes," He sighed, looking back up at the monitors. "Watari, did you have Wedy put the microphone and hidden cameras in his car as I asked?"

"Yes, Ryuzaki." He replied over the laptop.

"Alright, please put cameras 1-7 on the monitor, put camera 1 in the centre. Volume 75."

Watari obediently complied, setting the monitors up from his office.

L watched carefully, crouched on his chair and nibbling his thumbnail, as their suspect- Nox Amaryllis- exited his house and entered his car. He checked his phone before he started the engine, camera 6 revealed him to be on a popular forum website, carefully reading through a post on the screen.

"Watari, please zoom in on the screen of his phone. Camera 6."

The monitor swiftly closed in and L scanned the post.

"Matsuda, go to please."

"Right away, Ryuzaki!" He yelled across the room, rushing to a computer to research the website.

"Light, do a background check on this blogger. Pandora."

Light nodded and typed the name into the search engine, turning up pages of forum threads, websites and blogs with mention of the mystery suspect.

"From the information given by the blogger themselves, I can determine that it's a male and his personality seems to be that of..." He paused to consider how his to describe the personality of their suspect. "He speaks like he's most likely mid-twenties. Maybe older. Older threads bring to light the issues he's had with business ventures, the stock market and bills he has to pay. He could probably even be well into his thirties, although his attitude to Kira is definitely beyond childish."

L's eyebrows shot up.

"Is that so. How is his attitude beyond childish?"

"Well, as you can see here..." He replied, motioning to his screen. "He hates the idea that Kira is winning. He set up a whole anonymous account to take Kira down and he hates that Kira's still ahead. As you can see in this post: 'Kira is incompetent. He is childish, he believes that he is righteous. He thinks he can craft a new world from the ruins of the old. Kira thinks that by killing all the bad people in the world, then there will only be good people and everything will be at peace... But, if that is indeed his aim, then what does that make Kira himself? There will always be opression like this, fear is a weapon, hate is a fuel... Anger is a drug. There will always be evil people."

L watched him carefully, waiting for his next analysis of their potential target's personality.

"It just shows that he wants the power for himself. He has to be older than a teenager, his views are just... Too mature. As I said, Kira is an affluent child that wants to use this power for the sake of everybody else, it isn't personal gain. Pandora is... Well, Pandora seems like an adult. He wants the power to spite Kira, to do things _his _way; and he wants Kira's powers... So this is just a method of calling him out. Pandora is trying to get Kira's attention, take the power for himself and undo Kira's work."

"And would that not be a help to us, Light Yagami?" He replied, eyes narrowing as they locked onto the other's.

"No. Just because he wants to undo Kira's work, doesn't mean that it's intended in a positive sense. If you got two suspects, they'd most likely be rivals. Have some form of hatred toward one another. Old school friends that fell out, maybe. Assuming that they know each other and that they _are _rivals; then our Pandora would most likely be the rival that mimics everything the Kira suspect does, but attempts to make it seem better or more efficient than the original idea, but still keeping the general neccessity of the project. Pandora is petty and jealous of Kira because he holds power to make a genuine difference, whereas his powers lie in his blog followers on the internet."

"So what you're implying is that Pandora isn't a danger?"

"I wouldn't classify him as dangerous quite yet, since he's powerless. But he has got a lot of admiration and support from anti-Kira activists- from a summarisation of his comments, favourites, likes... Anything we can find from the public containing his name and work... We have concluded that a lot of people- somewhere in the thousands, even- support both rivals in their work."

"Excellent work, I couldn't have put it better myself. Watari, search for potential Pandora suspects please." L spoke into the microphone as he stirred three lumps of sugar into his tea.

The monitor revealed little else of Nox Amaryllis' life over the next few months. He was rich and barely had anything interesting to do. He went to school- where they couldn't monitor him, of course, he met some friends at a shopping centre in the town and did his homework like clockwork.

"Don't they get bored of that every day...?" Matsuda questioned, confusion apparent on his face.

"They aren't doing it every day." L replied simply, sipping his tea after over-sweetening.

"What...?" He asked, looking over from his computer.

"Like I said," He sighed, having to explain everything repeatedly was definitely something he wouldn't miss when he next worked alone on a case... If that moment ever came. "He hasn't been sticking to that schedule every day. If you run through the past footage, you'll come to realise that it's a loop with different pre-recorded voice-overs made to sound genuine. Every day of the week, they stand in the same positions with their faces away from the cameras. I have checked myself, there is a loop of precisely thirteen different pieces of footage that get set in a different combination every day. It is being done from outside the task force, someone has hacked into our system via the shopping centre and sent us false CCTV footage. A new piece of footage only arrives around once every two weeks, sometimes once in a single week. I believe that Nox is doing this himself and recording the conversations with the friends he goes with. The reason we never see their faces is that they don't want us to notice that he's been setting us up this whole time and figuring out that the voice doesn't match the footage."

"There are pieces of footage that show them actually saying stuff th-"

"A ruse, Matsuda. He includes that to throw us off his tracks. We never see the same footage of them speaking twice, but they do include themselves sitting in the same place a few times so it doesn't seem too suspicious that they were sitting directly in front of a camera."

"Ryuzaki is right." Light finally said. "We see the same footage a lot, but never of them speaking to each other. We rarely see their faces, and when we do see them they're covered. In the first instance, for example, Nox was wearing a woollen bobble hat that was pulled down just above his eyes and his hair did the rest. This was obviously done in haste, since it was July at the time this tape was turned in and he removed it when they left the camera close-up area- a sure sign that he had very little preparation or recources to pull this off."

"Which means that he isn't doing this himself." L added.

"That's right. It means that he's simply a pawn in someone's game."

"Well, I'd put him as more of a queen."

"... What are you saying?"

"He makes moves of his own free will, definitely... The tapes were sent in by him, there are points where the tape cuts off just as he nears the offices... This just goes to show that he is an important piece in somebody else's game, one with a lot of free will and power."

"I guess I never thought of that..."

"But this is to throw us off and avoid suspicion. He hasn't thought of this plan himself, someone had to have noticed the cameras planted in his own home and car. Nox rarely uses the car we hid the most cameras in, but a few days after we did- plenty time for anyone to find at least one camera and assume the whole house is bugged- he started to use it every day for no apparent reason and from our surveillance we can conclude that he did not find them himself."

"But nobody else has been in the house, other than his father and some of his siblings!" Matsuda interrupted before Light could reply to Ryuzaki's theory.

"Which means that we can either not see the person who discovered the cameras... Or someone knows how to avoid detection." L cut in before anybody else could scold him.

"A shinigami? Like in the tape that the second Kira sent in?"

"Perhaps, but we can't just rule out the possibility that someone who knows how to sneak around the blindspots of a camera is involved with Nox." Pausing only to sip his tea, L placed his finger on the button of the microphone and spoke clearly. "Watari, please send Wedy to ensure that there are no camera blindspots in Nox's home. Also, please bug all of his cars but do not add cameras."

"Of course, Ryuzaki." Came the reply as everyone set to work trying to figure out who was the brains behind Nox's actions and what was his or her ulterior motive.

_"Little shit..." The gruff voice grunted as rough hands reached for straw-like, unwashed and dusty hair under the bed. "Get the fuck out, you little dick."_

_**Go away...**__ The youngster hiding from his father willed silently to himself, his arms and legs hugged closely to his body. __**Please, just leave me alone... **__He whimpered, trying to fool himself that none of this was real._

_"Gotcha!" Reece Stone laughed as his fist clenched around a bruised, bony wrist._

_A shrill scream echoed through the house, but the neighbours never cared. They turned their music up, trying to fool themselves that nothing was wrong. Tried to fool themselves into thinking that the bruised, crying boy next door was just weak and a liar trying to make himself a better life. Everybody minded their own on this street, could only save yourselves. Nobody went back for anybody._

_A mother cringed into her bed, too weak to stop the man she loved from hurting the most precious thing she'd ever have. "Reece..." She cried, voice cracking. "Leave him alone!"_

_But he never listened._

_"PLEASE, DAD! STOP! NOT TONIGHT, I'LL DO ANYTHING!" He screamed and cried as his ribs began to crack under the pressure of sharp, cut knuckles._

_Biting insults began to take the light from the seven year old's eyes, sharp, pointed knuckles delivering stabbing punches began to steal the shine from his face and the weak cries of a mother too sick to help began to tear the laughter from his smile._

_He went limp as the last punch left him winded. If he didn't react then it would hurt more and more until he cried and screamed under the force of size 7 shoes, if he made too much noise or cried for help then he would bleed even more from the weight of whatever was close enough at hand to throw._

_"Little cunt..." His own father spat, grabbing his bottle of whatever alcoholic drink he'd chosen for the night. "I'll be back tomorrow." He kicked him hard in the side again. "Don't even fucking think of running." And then it was over. He finally left._

_Hand slowly inching up to his bruised and broken ribs, he slid back under the bed again to wish himself away into his imagination. It was always the same daydream, a mother in a white apron decorated with little red cherries and blonde hair tied back in a messy bun. Bright blue eyes, a smile that instilled happiness in even the darkest of souls... A father in a pin stripe suit and polka dot tie, white shirt and messy brown hair. Green eyes, loved to play games with his son..._

_And the same big brother he'd always had, with light brown hair and clear green eyes. The same big brother who always made everything better, but this time he'd never leave. He'd never have the deep red lines on his legs and arms, and he wouldn't have to go away again. He'd stay forever, and he wouldn't cry at night... A brother that was still there when he woke up, the bed unstripped and his figurines still on the shelf._

_He wouldn't have to be alone anymore._

_The shouting started again, forcing the youngster to face his reality. His father yelled at his mother, she cried and begged him to stop... But he never did, not while the drink was still there. He missed the days when he'd come home from school, mum was healthy and dad never drank. They both loved him, they'd never let him get hurt..._

_The shouting became muffled as more doors slammed, so he took out his red crayon from the box he'd taken from his school and started to draw on the underside of his bed. He drew a woman in an apron dotted with little red cherries, a dad in a pin stripe suit and spotted tie... A tall boy in a t-shirt and shorts with a skateboard and a long fringe that covered his forehead and swept around to his ear, then a littler boy... One with messy long hair and clean, soft clothes. A brand new t-shirt with brand new shorts to match his brothers, a new bike... Anything he wanted, not the same ripped jeans and torn t-shirt he'd had for months and months._

_"WHERE ARE YOU?!" A rough shout snapped him out of his daydream._

_"I'm... I'm here, daddy..." He yelled, crawling out and hiding his drawings._

_"COME DOWNSTAIRS, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO DO THE DAMN DINNER!"_

_"Coming." He whispered, scrambling to his feet and placing his hand on the door._

_"HURRY UP!" Reece bellowed to his son._

_Silently, he ran down the stairs and into the kitchen where a pan was already set on the filthy stove._

_"You can clean the kitchen when you're done, too." He glared down at him. "Now fucking do it." And at that he walked back into the livingroom, dropping down onto the sofa to call his friend._

_Quickly placing water in the pan and trying to reach the packet of pasta, he considered what it'd be like to not have to do these things for someone else. What would it be like if someone did these things for __**him**__ instead? Would life be any different?_

_'Yeah.' He reassured himself with a slight smile. 'Yeah, things would be different.' He poured the contents in and turned the dial._

_'I wouldn't be so alone...'_

Pale blue eyes snapped open and stared at the ceiling.

"Ungh..." He groaned, sitting up and scratching his long, messy brown hair. "Whu..." Turning, he saw the aftermath of his latest plan to get close to L. "Oh yeah." He raised a brow. "Forgot about you."

The mafia boss groggily turned to see which minor he'd landed himself tonight.

"Hm... Not bad." He smirked amusedly. "You're certainly a pretty boy..."

An amused smile crept onto his lips. "Am I really? So..." He purred, crawling over the man he'd dragged into bed the night before. "I believe we had a bargain?"

The hazy memories formed into the faint recollection of a deal they'd made in exchange for the young man's... 'Services'. "You want in on the mafia, and you cornered me to do it.

A grin spread across his slender face. "Smart _and_... 'Talented'" He mused, earning a laugh from his bedmate. He'd done his research in order to gain acceptance into the mafia. This boss, Orlando Perfavio, was known for his chain of underaged lovers- by far the easiest target for a teenager with a vendetta for isolation. Placing a hand either side of his head, he lowered himself to sit on Orlando's stomach and stared down at him. "But yes, I would like a position in the mafia... I'd like to take down Kira."

He was met with a laugh.

"Sure, kid, whatever you want for last night. Just don't expect anything else without any more payment."

A smirk formed. "I wasn't planning on it." He dropped down beside him as Orlando got up to sort him out on the phone.

"Yeah, Ricuardo? There's a kid here... Needs a position, he's a good kid alright... Yeah, that'll be fine." He wrote some details, an address and a number. "Hey, what's your name again?" He asked, turning his head... Only to be met with the barrel of a gun.

Grinning manically, the teen held a gun to him. His mouth opened to form the words as he pulled the trigger.

"Call me..." He fired the shot and finished his sentence as the life left his eyes. "Pandora."


End file.
